Leaving danza left me with a spiritual hole, which I often suffer from today. I saw my participation more in a “movimiento” kind of way in that I believe that our people would benefit immensely from many of the concepts around danza. I have tried to plug some of that hole with the practical organizing and events, mostly focused around immigration reform. I see the answer, Our Restoration, as a holistic process, with little difference in importance between the political and spiritual side of things. Even though, the political organizing has been, and will continue to be, satisfying, I was still left with a thirst for spiritual fulfillment.

The change in my career left me both anxious and with little time…with a family to support. I was anxious because at first, it was challenging to pay the bills. But I managed and pulled through, changing my business offerings in the process. I remained anxious later, because as I came out of it, I remained fearful that something else might happen, and that I had to make every effort to prepare for the worst. I was out of time, because I was busy working hard and preparing for the worst.

In fact, many people who have come to know me lately might not know that one of my true passions has been creative writing. That too was put to the side as I navigated the past few years. It has all come to a head, and I can no longer neglect my spiritual and creative sides.

My own personality has been one of extreme commitment and focus over the years. Typically, I am very, very involved in something, or I am completely out of it. In part, this is why my participation in danza has been almost 0. It’s usually all or nothing for me.

In fact, as I started to have this realization, my first tendency was to think to myself that my creativity was busting out, and that I had to do something to dedicate all of my days to re-finding this side of myself. I realized, also, that this black and white all-or-nothing tendency of mine has also been an obstacle.

Instead, I realized what most removed observers might have suggested long ago…I’m going to take….wait for it….a few days off…regularly. There I said it, and I didn’t even feel guilty or cringe. Today, I was in silence most of the day, working on my spiritual work, which I hope one day to share.

Anyway, today is my new leaf. My day guided by Xipe Totec and Ehecatl. Out with the old, in with the new. Ometeotl.

Admittedly, there is a great deal to criticize about the mortgage industry, especially from the years 2000 to 2007. During these years, lenders and investors lent money to people who did not qualify for government insured “prime” loans.

In essence, the idea was simple: investors made home purchase loans and equity loans to people whom those traditional banks would not lend to. In exchange, these investors charged a higher price (called an interest rate). Since there was less supply for this financial product, naturally the price would be higher. The subprime borrower would also avoid paying an insurance fee to protect the bank, which many prime borrowers are still forced to pay.

In essence, for a higher price, investors would provide an opportunity to many consumers whom would normally be declined by banks. Unfortunately, two features of these loans seem to have made the opportunities devastating for many families.

The first option was the variable rate option. Many unsophisticated consumers chose a rate that would eventually increase, because it saved them a few dollars for the first two years. Additionally, many of these same consumers chose to pay their insurance and taxes on their own, rather than to have the mortgage company collect these costs on a monthly basis.

Once the variable rate began to increase, many families could no longer afford to pay their mortgage. Those who did not “escrow” monthly payments for taxes and insurance, were often unable to pay the lump sums of taxes every January, and this also caused problems.

These miscalculations on the part of borrowers and lenders led to many problems, but there were also downright unscrupulous behaviors that led to some of these problems. Some loan officers pushed the variable rate loans so that the borrower could come back before the loan adjusted and pay another fee in order to refinance. At the top end of the mortgage chain, the greatest overnight wealth was created when some investors figured that many people would default. They took out bets against massive pools of borrowers, in expectation that they would fail.

It is very easy to look at these terrible product features, and the unscrupulous practices and arrive at the conclusion that the entire concept of subprime mortgages should be outlawed. Since about 2007 most of the subprime products have been largely unavailable. They went away not because of regulation but because no investors were interested in taking on this sort of risk.

The reason I write this piece is that Wells Fargo has recently (and quietly) rolled out some products that could easily be considered subprime. Purchases with only ten percent down for people who have credit scores of 501 were commonplace during the subprime heyday, but they have been unheard of since late 2007…until now.

Sure, interest rates for subprime mortgages were 2% to 4% higher than prime rates, but consider the following:

Question: What is the interest rate for a renter?

Answer: 100%

Get it?

I am the first one to blame imperialist corporations for everything from migration patterns to the environmental poisoning of our communities. However, I am also the first to say, that until we achieve self-determination, we should make ourselves as independent from these people as possible. Home ownership is one, small step toward that.

We should reform the subprime industry. We should outlaw variable rates for unsophisticated borrowers, and we should require escrow, but we should not outlaw opportunities for those whom banks consider untouchable.

I have seen funds from subprime home equity loans send children to college, pay for medical treatment and set up businesses perhaps blocks away from where you picked up this newspaper. I have seen people purchase homes who otherwise might still be renting apartments.

Some of these consumers have failed, even with fixed, escrowed loans, but I don’t think that it is in our best interest to outlaw the chance to succeed (or to fail) based on the unscrupulous practices of the industry.

In retrospect, the whole mortgage crisis was caused by a crisis of knowledge. Many borrowers were not informed or experienced enough to select certain features of their loan. We need high school classes on financial literacy.

In the meantime, let us outlaw predatory practices and the flawed features of subprime mortgages. Let’s not kill all hope that someone with damaged credit can borrow against his home to pay for an operation. Let’s not kill the possibility that cash earners (of which there are many in our barrios) will eventually be able to buy their home, instead of being at the mercy of their landlord.

El Pueblo Community Newspaper Adds Three Areas of Distribution And Almost Doubles Circulation
Description: Houston’s Premier Bilingual Community Newspaper, El Pueblo, grows its circulation and distribution through an agreement similar to a franchise agreement.

El Pueblo Newspaper will offer three additional areas of distribution to the three it already has and will almost double its circulation.

The growth is made possible due to an agreement with a cover advertiser who was impressed with the results of the advertisement which he had placed in El Pueblo. Mario Martinez, president of Amigoz Dental, said of the advertisement, “El Pueblo works because of the mix of journalism and the fact that El Pueblo is not overrun with too many advertisers.” The agreement, similar to a franchise agreement, is a promising strategy for growth for El Pueblo.

Amigoz Dental is adding an office in the Southwest, which will complement the firm’s other offices. El Pueblo’s new distribution will be focused in the South, Southwest and South Central parts of Houston. “Due to the new office, it was just the right time for this move,” said Martinez.

Current advertisers advertise in the Southeast, Northwest, and Northeast, and will be unaffected by the addition of the new areas. All current advertising will continue to be placed as normal in what will be called the North Edition. Current advertisers will have the opportunity to add their advertisement to the South Edition at a special, discounted price. The distribution of the South Edition will begin on February 15th.

El Pueblo is designed to look like a classified newspaper, which has allowed it to position itself as the largest, bilingual advocacy newspaper in Houston. The newspaper’s editor, activist and small business person, Hector A. Chavana Jr., takes an openly pro-Latino, pro-people perspective on many articles, and focuses on the people’s response, rather than the establishment’s response, to community problems.

El Pueblo is looking to expand through other arrangements with other franchisees.

Contact Information:
Hector A. Chavana Jr
###

Salt Chavana, Courtesty Citlali Chavana

The price was right, so I agreed.I still mess with her about the name she picked.  I guess everyone does.  Salt?

Anyway, he spent the cold months with us last year, and he got to go in the garage more often than he will this year. So, “we” decided to build him a dog house. 

Joaquin Tonatiuh and I finished it today, while Citlali worked on this awesome power point presentation for her Spanish class.  Emiliana Meztli, aka Sausage, slept through about half of the project and cried through about another half…Another quality Chavana project, and you thought I didn'think I had it in me…

Another Quality Project By Chavana Industries

Here in Houston, El Dia, went out of business a few months ago. As I begin this venture, my second attempt at newspaper publishing (I tried ten years ago, fresh out of college), there are probably at least ten Spanish-language newspaper, split between alternative newsweeklies and classified newspapers in Houston. In the English-language scene there is one English daily newspaper, one alternative weekly, a couple of monthlies and a couple of classifieds.

In this age of declining print, what would make me believe that I could or should engage in this venture?

About the could part…I think that the major trend in the last decade within media lies within consumption. The trend, and I think that the trend is here to stay, is toward a more niche, point-of-view-oriented preference among the people. Lines have slowly blurred between editorial and news content. The people understand and are ok with that. Their response is just to look for media which more or less corresponds with their point of view. Those who are not ok with it are traditional media, because their monopoly on legitimate information mongering is being broken by right-wing Fox, lefty blogs and the strengthening of right-wing radio.

Traditional, supposedly “unbiased” journalism is now kind of just like vanilla ice cream. You’ll eat it, but you won’t go to the other side of the city to buy it if you can buy it at the convenient store. And if the convenient store offers it for free, con menos ganas will you drive to the other side of the city to buy it. This is the predicament that dailies find themselves in. By the time I find a daily to buy, I’ve already heard everything that they have to say on CNN, Yahoo News, NPR and Pacifica. If I haven’t, I can get the same articles from Reuters and the other sevices on Google for free, and I can do it while, I am sending out e-mails and giving out insurance quotes online.

Now, if there is a point of view, or hard-to-come by information, I might drive a few blocks to pick up the paper, especially if its free. For example, I’ve never seen a story on the people that ICE disappears in The Chronicle, but The Houston Catholic Worker ran such a story. Now I want to see everything they publish.

So, as far as journalism goes, I do intend to offer spicy, advocacy-oriented, pro-gente, pro-movimiento oriented pieces. So, what about the idea that our people are not really print-media consumers, especially Spanish-speakers? Hector, you might say, you might drive a few blocks for the Catholic Worker, but you are not most people. You’re weird. You’re a news junkie, an ideologue and lefty nationalist. Most people aren’t, and most just don’t care enough.

My solution to this is that the newspaper is designed as a classified-style newspaper, which has been a staple of the barrio for years, and which I expect to remain so. Small businesses will always need a way to promote their businesses to buyers, and buyers will always look for a way to shop around. Classic community organizing teaches that successful campaigns are those built on the self-interest of the participants. Applied to the newspaper, I am riding the self-interest of buyers and sellers to get the information out to the people who want it.

A free newspaper has been and will be the solution to this self-interest. Sure, there is the internet, but even I, as tech-savvy as I am, don’t think “internet” for searching for some things, like handymen and mechanics. When I do think about consuming services on the internet, I don’t get a warm and fuzzy feeling. With some exceptions, it sucks.

To increase readership even more, the journalism in El Pueblo will run bilingually.

In essence, I am banking on classifieds to be the backbone of the paper. The journalism will add, let’s say, ten percent to the readership, the English, will add, perhaps, another ten percent to the readership and the point of view will add, hopefully, another ten percent.

As a side note, the alternative newsweeklies use the national advertising style of selling space. I think that they could be in some trouble. Being in the industry years ago, I know that, in general, the circulation numbers that they post to advertisers are bogus. Yes, they are audited, but I have been told by other insiders how to get the audit numbers that you want. It’s simple, when the auditors come, you print more copies and pay someone that week to go pick them up. If national advertisers figured this out, they would pull out immediately. It is unfortunate that our people don’t pick them up because they are too newsy and not classifiedy enough. Classified papers don’t have the “luxury” of this scam. At the end of the three-month contract, the small business guy or gal just wants to know if you brought them business or not. Did you make their phone ring? Yes or no?

The last eight years in business, I have learned that multiple income streams are helpful. When applied to readership, diverse reasons for picking up the paper will be key. Some people have written off print completely, and have even brought this to my attention. I truly believe that there will be a place for print for a century or more, with only the price and availability of paper, relative to the value of the dollar vs other currencies, being able to totally displace print in this part of the world. I will say that the traditional, non-free, daily newspaper will be a thing of the past, just like the family sitting around the radio in the evening is a piece of history.

Print will adapt to the introduction of the internet, just as radio adapted to the introduction of the television. Radio, still has a place. Although TV dramatically reduced the relevance of radio, it did not totally displace it. The same will hold true of the print industry.

I think that the combo that I am presenting will represent the new place of print.

I go into this project with much more experience and acumen than I did ten years ago. Perhaps because of this experience and acumen, I also go in much more humbly and conscientious of the fragility of the project in its initial phase.

In the end, I can cost and business justify it as much as I want, but the reason that I am doing it is because I want to. It is not for profits, which I could more easily attain by focusing on one of my other revenue streams. I am both an ideologue and a practical activist/organizer. The entire reason that I became self-employed was so that I would not have to shut my mouth. I want this paper to share my ideas and to share the good community work of others in Houston. The business aspect to it is simply a practical necessity.  I won’t be able to print as much journalism as I’d like at first, but I will slowly improve the paper.  I took a blind leap of faith the first time around.  This time, I am taking a measured, cautious first step and hoping for the best.